US Left Compound Unguarded for Weeks

It may not be as big as the WikiLeaks cache, but the number of State Department documents left exposed by last month’s attack on the Benghazi Consulate appears to be significant, and continuing to grow.

After the consulate was attacked and the ambassador killed, the compound was more or less abandoned, with sensitive documents littered throughout the wreckage and the US making no effort to secure the site.

Even now, more than three weeks later, the Washington Post visited the site and reported personnel records and other sensitive documents laying on the floor of the building. The US has no guards there, but the Libyan owners of the compound have two guards positioned outside the massive site.

This seems to have accomplished little, as in the wake of the attack the site was looted and it really isn’t clear how much important documentation has already been carried away by interested parties.